phuturatica

Quite eerie as I was drinking in Happy Bar on Saturday night till about 2am on Sunday...

It was down a small soi which is opposite Khao San Centre which is half way down Khao San. Its a small looking little guesthouse kind of place. I've walked past there quite a few times and its very low budget looking. I never realised it was illegal though!? They don't try to conceal the fact that its a guesthouse?!

Hmm, I'm very curious as to what building it was! I'm actually meeting a friend that way for lunch later so maybe I'll have a nosey and report back here on what I see.

RIP

Well, you guys are a helpful bunch. I'm the friend of the OP. I decided to re-read the post and see how helpful you guys were. I appreciated some of your posts and others were quite ignorant. I would like to ask you a few questions:

1. How many motor vehicle accidents have occurred directly due to marijuana intoxication?

2. How many times has marijuana use ended someone's life? I am talking strictly due to the effects of marijuana.

Alcohol is far more dangerous drug and I am sure that a couple of you that were calling me a junkie are "junkies" yourselves.

I like(ed) Khao San Road because it is a nice place to occasionally meet foreigners( I am one as well and would never claim to be anything close to a Thai; I'm a guest here as well as most of you) and have a good time while at the same time saving some money. I don't really like going to Sukhimvit because there tend to be types that I don't really get along with there. I am going to go ahead and assume everyone makes mistakes even if they weren't caught in the act. I made a stupid decision and literally paid for it. And buying drugs in any SE Asian country is quite a stupid decision. I have learned a lesson from this: First of all, I became too comfortable here. I have been here coming up for two years and I am off to another country by the end of this year. I also speak Thai among other languages so it is not as if I come here and do not respect the people or their varying cultures. I took care of the problem and now have my passport back. Everything is just peachy and I would appreciate if you people who were bashing me would stop and think what would have happened to you if you had been in Thailand at 20. I have been doing my university work over here as well. It was an expensive lesson learned.

I also would like to thank those people who posted helpful comments. That meant a lot to me even though I had the problem taken care of within a few days. I would suggest some of you start your research on the harmful effects of drugs on Wikipedia. I think some of you could use some mind altering in order to get rid of your narrow minded ways. It is because of people that hold views such as marijuana offenders are junkies or even that "smack" users are junkies that allow police to extort people anyways. Drug abuse, however, not use, should be treated as a health problem. Throwing sick people into jail didn't work, doesn't work, and will never work. Please take a look at statistics back America or Europe and compare the treatment model versus incarceration. Trust me, I will never get near marijuana in Thailand and plan to stick to the alcohol even though it is exponentially more harmful.

Don't spout off rude, uninformed advice unless you know what you are talking about.

Thanks again for the support I received from some of you.

Goodnight all, its time for bed

At least the situation got sorted out and everything is peachy!

Khao San Road is rife with corruption and drug stings. I see it happen all the time! At least it was only 20,000 baht and you paid and got your passport back! Good luck with the rest of your travels and try to stay out of trouble!

This has to be a troll post right?

Limiting yourself to only a certain number of bar girls who are between a certain age is ridiculous.

Since when did a certain age range protect you in any way shape or form from an STD?

I have just signed a contract with Ikea and I am due to teach all of the staff there English. The actual main management at Ikea are Swedish but they speak excellent English as I've had a few meetings with them. One of the things they discussed with me was turning around their process of buying products but they admitted that it was difficult because majority of the staff are beginner or elementary English level, therefore communicating with them is a little difficult. Also there seems to be a miscommunication error on what the management want to what the employees do. Its a total new system to them and they're not used to it and that's why its very long-winded and complicated.

I start teaching them after Songkran and I will also be teaching them relevant communication skills for the new process which will be introduced soon.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that Ikea are aware of their problems and are in the process of changing the system. I would say bear with them and give them a chance in a few months time when they're fully trained in the areas of where they're supposed to be working.

Excellent excellent I have thought for several years now that this "teaching english to staff" is an excellent idea it has no boundaries - McDonals,Index,Big C, and the list goes on but does not end at hospitals, clinics, dare i say schools or even bolder Department of Education! Good on you, lets forge forward and instead of condeming Thailand for lack of "english" take steps to help citizens of a country where the world communal language is not native!!improve their skills in this medium "English"

Surprisingly enough, there are many corporate companies in Thailand who pay private language schools to teach their employees. This will be the 4th corporate company training I have done so far in 3 months. Also, its not always for the customer's benefit either. Some companies have to deal with headquarters in different companies in America, China, Japan etc and because English is an international widely used language. It makes sense to be taught English.

I have found as a teacher that the main problem is that the teaching of English has only been introduced into schools in the last 20 years or so (don't quote me on this figure!) Therefore the older generation of Thai people who are still working to make ends meet are at the bare minimum of English level. When I did placement tests for the staff of Ikea, most of the employees who were over the age of 40 years old could only just about say "Hello" and that was about it. They did not even understand "How are you?" and they failed their listening and writing tests (Some could not even write their own name!)

Otherwise it is 4% for this service plus a 650 Baht delivery fee. I agree a delivery fee is fair enough but surely providing staff that are knowledagble and can help you carry things would not impact on the profitability of the store.

As I recall from my wife and I's visit, the 600 or so baht delivery fee was based on an a delivery item size up to so many meters... Larger things like longer couches or large sets might have higher fees for larger size deliveries. It wasn't a flat fee amount regardless of size or volume.

BTW, I'm all for Thai businesses improving the English capabilities of their staff. But in this case, I'm not quite sure how doing that at the line staff level is going to help fix what the OP described as a broken and convoluted product pulling, purchasing and getting to your car system.

If the current Thai staff don't understand what non-Thai management wants them to be doing, it doesn't take all of them taking English lessons to fix that problem. It takes someone in Thai explaining what management wants.

I completely understand what you are saying and the Swedish management discussed this with us when we had a meeting. From my knowledge and gathering of understanding, this system will be changed very soon and employees will be assigned to certain areas on what jobs they're supposed to be doing. For example, the management highlighted that sometimes when a customer needed help moving something there seemed to be a lack of organisation where by someone would go looking for a suitable member of staff to help move the products to a designated place (e.g. pick up by car) they wanted to change this so that someone was available at all times.

From what I gather, its not just the lack of communication in English which is the problem. Its the lack of communication all together (even in Thai) and also the lack of organisation amongst the staff. When I asked some of the staff what their job role was in Ikea, most of them had no specific title or designated area of the floor to be working at.

I guess at least we can say they're aware of the problems and in the process of trying to fix it. It's a start, right?

I have been asked to teach iGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) English to a student who has been living in the UK for 2 - 3 years but is coming home to Bangkok for the summer holidays. He wishes to continue his studies over the holiday period, however I have absolutely no idea where to start in teaching a student English literature and English language at such an advanced level. I did GCSE's myself when I was 15 - 16 years old so its pretty intense stuff.

Do any fellow EFL teachers out there have any experience in teaching iGCSE English and do you have any tips? This kind of stuff isn't really EFL teaching as the student already speaks perfect English. This is the same kind of teaching I was taught when I was leaving high school!

You could start your own business here? Then I guess you would be your own boss. Other than that, the options are quite limited.

One of my least favorites...constipation

Now that you've brought it up, I once went ( or didn't go) 8 days..on purpose..

Why would you not go 'on purpose'?

I'm a total condiment lover but Ketchup and Mayonaise are a total no go. Ruining a good steak with tomato sauce!? HOW COULD SHE?!

Almost as bad as ruining good Fish and Chips with vinegar.

Yeah I hate vinegar too!

I actually had an eating disorder back in the UK where I would hardly ever eat any vegetables and I only liked the textures of some foods in my mouth. In the UK having my own kitchen was handy because I was in control of what I could eat. Moving here was a big problem as I had to learn to adjust. Since being here I've developed gout (24 year old woman with gout! Its unbelievable!) and it was mostly because I was eating too much meat and foods high in purine and not enough vegetables. There was no balance at all/

Slowly but surely I am changing my diet and trying new vegetables but it is very challenging for me. 2 years ago you would never see me eat a salad, however now I have tried a few and enjoyed them to some extent. I think my favourite has to be the Sizzler salad bar... But only because its all you can eat and I have a choice on what salad to have on on my plate.

Organs, feet and heads are still a total no go for me... I don't mine eating meat off the bone and I don't mind skin if its not to blubbery and fatty (I prefer crispy) and as for insects and frogs... I don't mind the crunchy grasshoppers and crickets. Also ants cooked in rice are quite bitter tasting and there is no real texture to them with rice. Frogs when chopped up finely and cooked into a meal taste like beef almost and it has the same texture so its fine...

For me its textures of food that I have a problem with. Sometimes the idea of what I'm about to eat is also quite daunting and I get anxious and eating becomes a chore.

Eating in Thailand is difficult to me as I can't shake off the overloading and anxious feeling I get when I order food at a restaurant. Also food disorders aren't really recognised here in Thailand. My Thai boyfriend just thinks I'm spoilt and fussy... But that's not totally the case!

I'm a total condiment lover but Ketchup and Mayonaise are a total no go. Ruining a good steak with tomato sauce!? HOW COULD SHE?!

Charcoal tablets or also known as carbon in some pharmacies help with absorbing the spice so it doesn't affect you gut so much afterwards. They also help absorb anything bad in your stomach and prevents the sickly feeling if you have food poisoning or are hungover.

I am young and the UK has no prospects for the younger generation anymore. I was working my ass off just to afford my rent and put food on the table when I realised that I could have a better quality of life over here.

I feel more grown up and independent and like I'm doing something with my life now than I ever have done before.

Haha! I guess it all depends on how slack you are?!

My boyfriends bar is not serving alcohol or opening his bar on the 8th and 9th for sure... Not too sure about the 10th though. However I just went for some food and saw some Thai guys drinking big leo's with their food?! Who knows...

I have just signed a contract with Ikea and I am due to teach all of the staff there English. The actual main management at Ikea are Swedish but they speak excellent English as I've had a few meetings with them. One of the things they discussed with me was turning around their process of buying products but they admitted that it was difficult because majority of the staff are beginner or elementary English level, therefore communicating with them is a little difficult. Also there seems to be a miscommunication error on what the management want to what the employees do. Its a total new system to them and they're not used to it and that's why its very long-winded and complicated.

I start teaching them after Songkran and I will also be teaching them relevant communication skills for the new process which will be introduced soon.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that Ikea are aware of their problems and are in the process of changing the system. I would say bear with them and give them a chance in a few months time when they're fully trained in the areas of where they're supposed to be working.

I did a 7 day water fasting thing once. It killed me almost and was very difficult. I did lose weight but as soon as I started eating again it was back quicker than I thought it would be. Waste of time.

Basically you're worried about stuff that can happen in ANY country?

The only option is to bury yourself or shoot into space into a capsule.

"Brown rice over write rice?" - I'm assuming you mean white not write?!

Even though brown rice is considered to be 'the poor mans rice' I actually prefer it. I have seen studies on the internet which would suggest that brown rice is actually healthier for you than white rice and it contains more vitamins and fibre per gram.

I am actually due to get a rice cooker soon and I'll be looking to purchase brown rice over white for sure.

I have a friend with a cleaner and they pay 300 baht each time for their apartments to be serviced. To be fair though, I think this is pretty good going for Thai standards. She's been their cleaner for 7 years now and 300 baht is more than the average daily wage for majority of Thai people.

If I let my clothes dry inside I seem to get that mildew smell. I've found that hanging them to dry outside works best.

Oh dear...Maybe if you get some common sense and do one of the following:

1. Find another massage place.
   
2. Tell her she is not finished and it has not been an hour.
   

These are all pretty... logical solutions?!

Dyed hair is bad enough but the one that gets me is the Bobby Charlton comb over, you know the 15 to 20 single hairs combed from the top of the left ear all neatly spread out across the shiny pate. Believe me guys shaved head looks a lot better.

There is nothing funnier than seeing a farang guy in a tuktuk or on a motorbike with their comb over going crazy in the wind!

I used to be on Deprovera and it made me gain loads of weight (12kg if I remember correctly) it all started piling on unexpectedly 2 months or so after being on it. When I came off it, I lost 11kg in the space of 4 months after not being on it.

I have the implant and I find it brilliant. I get the odd period every now and then but nothing major and my period pains are no more (thankfully!) I definitely know you can get this in Thailand as I looked up getting a replacement for when my 3 years is up. I'm not sure it is free though.